Thursday, November 10, 2022

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Storm Atoll Heroic

This is a rare heroic mode that feels like it's a step back from campaign mode in terms of difficulty.  Although we didn't assign any grades in campaign mode, it didn't mean it was easy.  It was challenging in terms of both the build and cooldown management.  However, in heroic mode there are no enemies that head to the second exit and there are no Bluegales, which makes everything significantly easier.  I hesitate to call it a trivial map, but after the lessons learned in campaign mode it's not really challenging.

Ironically, despite that fact I am actually assigning one grade for this map: I'm giving Kahz a 'B'.  Usually with Kahz his antics with Bull Rush and Daedalus' Maze aren't too much of a problem, but this is one map where they are seriously not appreciated.  All that we ask of our heroes here is just to block while our towers do all the real work.  But Kahz refusing to stay home and help block is a real hinderance.  In addition, because he is constantly blocking, stunning, and teleporting random enemies, it really throws off the rhythm of the map.  Cooldown management is still important here - knowing when and where to use Rain of Fire and the Shrine of Regnos.  But when enemies aren't in the place they're supposed to be at the time they're supposed to be, everything gets thrown off.

One final frustration with Kahz is the fact that Daedalus' Maze can apparently confuse enemies and cause them to forget what path they're supposed to be taking.  You can see an example of this starting at the 4:20 mark.  Kahz teleports a Devilfin to him, which happens to be the place where the bottom path intersects the path to the second exit.  When the Devilfin comes out of the stun, it then starts heading to the second exit - even though no enemies in this map path to that exit.  I had to use a Rain of Fire to catch it at the last second.

Ultimately the map is still plenty doable with Kahz, but with all the complications he brings to the table I feel justified in shaming him with a lone 'B'.

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